Furnace for treating pulverulent materials



E. C. SAINT-JACQUES Filed'wiarcn 4, 193s June 14, 1938.

` FURNACE FOR TREATING PULVERULENT MATERIALS l Patented June 14, 1938 -UNITED sTATEs Yrinuncia Foa TREATING PULV'ERULENT MATERIALS Eugne Camille Saint-Jacques, Paris, France Applicatiin March 4, 1936, Serial No. 67,137

n France March 12, 1935 1 claim. (Ci. zes-29) The present invention has for its subject matter a furnace capable of being used for. any roasting or calciiialtionI operations upon pulverulent materials and in particular for oxidation,

reduction or other treatments of ores in the pulverulent state.

This furnace is constituted essentially by a cylindrical body forming a. turbulent heater surmounted by a distributing extension and in which the materials to be treated enter, with a spiral movement with more or less flattened spirals.

In this cylindrical body there open, preferably tangentially and at suitable points, 4inlets forv combustion air if necessary, and if desired Va l1li gas, heavy oil, pulverized fuel or other vburner or burners. A I y The cylindrical body forming the heater for.L the materials to be treated terminates at its y lower part in a reverberatory furnace preferably 2g provided with one or several burners, and in which the materials in the molten state achieve an intimate intermixing and react upon one another. s Due to the combination of aturbulent heater in which the pulverulent materials to be treated descend turbuiently and are heated progressively to above 1000 C. for example, and of a reverberatory furnace in which the treatment or the reactions of the materials in the fused state simply take place, there may be given to this latter part of the furnace (the heat eiilciency of which is in general rather low in comparison with that of a turbulent furnace) much smaller dimensions than if an ordinary reverberatory furnace merely beused to effect the same operations. y u

In the appended drawing there has been -shown diagrammatically by way ofV non-limiting example an embodiment of the subject of the ino vention.

The furnace comprises a cylindrical body 4I which communicates at 'its upper part with a ycylindrical extension 2', to winch is connected tangentially a pipe 3 through which the materials to be treated opter, previously reduced to the pulverulentstate and held in suspension in any suitable gaseous fluid.

At the interior of arranged an inverted cone-shaped funnel 4 the top of which communicates with a iiue I3 in which is located a suction fan Il driven by a`- motor Il, and the base of which is connected to the wall of the cylindrical extension by the intermediary of blades I. preferably' inwardly curved, uniformly distributed over all the cirthe cylindrical' extension is .the said heater;

between which the material and cumference and into the gaseous fluid are forced to pass to enter the body I.

Combustion air may be passed under pressure into an annular chamber 6 whence it enters tangentially or not into the cylindrical body I by open apertures 1.

8 is a gas, heavy oil, pulverized fuel or other burner the flame of which enters tangentially into the cylindrical body I- and rises during the operation of the apparatus under the effect of the internal depression created by the suction fan so as to enter into contact with the gyratory descending current of the materials to be treated.

The diameter of the extension 2 is substantially smaller than that of the body I.

In its lower part the cylindrical fore-body I opens into a reverberatory furnace 9 the dimensions of which may be very reduced and in which I0 and II are the discharge openings for the molten bath and the slag swimming on the furnace respectively. Into the furnace 9 one or more burners I2 similar to the burner l may Open. y

The operation of the furnace is as follows:

The pulverulent material to be treated, which material is suspended in a gaseous fluid and if necessary mixed with fluxes or other materials which are also in a pulverulent state, is tangentially introduced into the space between the cone l and the cylindrical. fore-body 2 and takes a spiral descending movement in the said space. In the course of the said movement the material is uniformly distributed aroundthe cone I so that the whole periphery of this cone is equally coveredwith the same.

The speeding up of the mixtureof gas and material is progressively obtained 'through the progressive throttling of the section of space a between the cone l and the housing 2. The mixture takes a speed which becomes greater and greater as the mixture effects its spiral descending movement and when it arrives in the very narrow annular space b which is occupied by the vanes 5 it is automatically carried forth and directed into the inner part of the heater I through the said vanes which are preferably curved in order to `flatten the spirals followed-by the mixture to be treated during its spiral movement when descending through it results therefrom that the material to be treated follows, in this heaterl a longer way and thus remains longer in the saine. whichinsures a more intensive heating of the particles of treated material.

When entering the body I (of larger diameter) through the vanes 5 the particles of the materialv to be treatedproceed on their spiral descending movement'the spirals of. which are preferably attened inwardlyv of the heater. During this A time 'the fan which communicates with the top of the `cone 4 produces acurrent of partialvacuum upwardly in the middle line of the circular trajectory-followed by the mixture of gasv and material, combustion air under pressure entering the body I of the furnace through-the vopenings 1.

Due to'this combinationof the gyratory movement imparted to the mixture of gas and pulverulent materialswith thisrising current of partial. vacuum there is produced, on the onehand, a rational intermixing of the gases and materials and, on the other hand, :a braking of holding the material to vbe treatedin a suspended condition is inflamed through any known means,

for insta-nce by means of the burner`8. Y During their spiral gyratory. movement in the in ner of the'y furnace the particles ofthe material have lquite time for being hefated up to-temperatures ,of more than 1000 C. forQinstance, and even for beginning to mix with. and to react upon the fluxes or other materials which `have been intro,-

duced with them, .the gases which are produced vbeing drawn off through the fan which communicates with the top of the cone When enteringv the reverberatory furnace 8 which is heated vthrough the burner or burners I2, the materials are molten; the one, for instance, and the ux are 'intimately mixed, thus forming the molten -bath which is decanted.

At the given moment the metal vis evacuated,

for. instance at l0 and the slag at I I, in the known manner.

What I claim is:

Apparatus for the treatment of finely comminuted metalliferous particles comprising a cylindrical fluxing chamber, va cylindrical distributor havinga smaller diameter than that of the fluxing chamber for tangentially projecting` the particles in the top of said iluxing chamber whereby theparticles take a downwardly swirl- ,ing motion inthe fluxing chamber, an annular -chamber around the fluxing chamber in the bottom portion thereof, meansv for introducingcomb ustion 'air into thisv latter chamber, 'apertures' in said air chamber for establishing communication with the inside v'ofi the fluxing chamber, a burner opening tangentially into the fluxing chamber and disposed below the annular air chamber, a rreverlzieratory furnace directly connected-to the bottom of the fluxing chamber-and into which the particlesv'are received,-me'ans fo'.' supplying heat t saidA furnace whereby theufluxed. particles are..m lted and maintained Vin a fluid condition, discha ge openings in said furnace for the .molten particles, the Icylindrical distributor being *providedV withA an axial opening at its top,

and a fan connected to said opening for creating a suction inthe inside of thefluxing chamber.

EUGNE sAIN'LmcczUEs.A 

